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whoops again! Its good to know that some of you are on your toes, and so...

Here's the latest list. To help prevent further mistakes, please can you all check that the list is accurate about your selection, just in case.(Ganddalf - I've put you down for 47.2 as a second choice, even though you've not said you're definitely taking it. Let me know if you're not happy with that).

Op 65/1: From the Early Years - this is going pretty well. I'm still working on refining the 16th notes at the end in the RH so that they create more an atmosphere than be individual notes that you hear. The big octaves in the LH can sometimes tense up if I'm not careful too. The fast middle section is getting better, I just have to play it from memory I think.

There is one spot that I'm having trouble playing up to tempo without really tensing up, and I wonder if anyone has ideas on what I can do. It's in m. 81, 87, 93, and 99. It's all th same figure, there's the triplets in the RH with some held notes:

This ex. is in D major.

The problem I'm having is the first set of triplets has to be done with fingers 3 and 5 with 5 on a sharp . Up to tempo this is really tough! Any suggestions? I'd rather not drop the lower notes.

edited to add: for some reason my images aren't posting correctly. If you want to see the whole page, it is found on page 5, the last measure in the first line, and first measure in the 3rd line:Grieg op 65

Off the top of my head, in desparation, how about a re-write? (looking at the first of those bars)...

Forget the RH F# half-note, that leaves you working 2,3,4 for the melody instead of 3,4,5.

Or, if you can't live without the F# you could play the LH up an octave but play a 10th interval instead (B,D) then you can ditch the D in the RH, now with the thumb on F# leaving you again with the easier(?) 2,3,4 fingering?. You can make that easier still by leaving the LH thumb on D for the full 3 beats bringing the pinky UP to the higher E on beat 3 that gives you almost total freedom for the RH in the tail of that bar.

I'm listed for 65.3 (Melancholy) as a second choice and I do love the piece and will continue working on it, but want to request that for now I be delisted as having any second choice request on it, in case that's keeping someone else from requesting it. I feel that anyone else will do a better job at this than I. If I do end up doing it (which I will do if noone prefers to claim it) it will be at a veeeeery stately tempo, and the most minimal stretto effects possible while at least trying to honor "accel e cresc" in spirit if not in execution.

My primary piece 57.3 (Illusion) is coming along although I despair of ever getting the LH voicing balanced for when the melody descends into the top note of the LH chords. And I'm not sure I can make it properly allegretto. Plus I got my piano tuned and that did perk the sound right up, but my piano is drifting out of that perfect tuning and now it sounds blah again. But I'm getting a Dampp Chaser installed and then another tuning this summer so maybe I will have a lovely tuning in place again for when I come to record this.

If I try to play it really reflecting on the sound, it becomes very much slower than Allegretto.

I wonder if maybe there's a lightness and lift on the sixteenth notes that is the thing I should be focusing on. I just can't get it to sound like anything really interesting yet. Maybe I should try just singing it a lot, and see what inflections my voice finds to take with it, and only then transfer those inflections to the piano.

I'm taking it at around 170 bpm for quarter note, maybe slightly less if I can't manage this well.

I tried your suggestion, but my hands are small so a 10th is not really possible, but I don't like losing the bass here. Actually, now that I play it again, I think the problem lies in going to the last triplet from the first one. Since the first triplet ends on C# finger 5, then the net triplet starts on finger 4 on a B natural, and having to play the D on the last triplet with the RH thumb means I can't get away with playing higher on the B to get it closer to the C#. It's just not ergonomically designed for my little macaroni pinkies! However, if I really try to play as high on the white keys as possible I think that helps.

No, well my hands aren't large so I'm on fingertips for the 10th anyway. I know what you mean about losing the punch of the lower bass. How about sacrificing half of that by keeping beat 1 of the LH where it is and playing beat 3 spanning the 7th interval on the higher E?

...the upshot being that you can play that second RH A with the thumb. Really, at that tempo, with a bit of judicious sustain, I don't think you lose a lot by not playing the final RH D on beat 3 so you could play the entire LH as written. Better to play the triplets clean with slightly emptier harmony.

No, well my hands aren't large so I'm on fingertips for the 10th anyway. I know what you mean about losing the punch of the lower bass. How about sacrificing half of that by keeping beat 1 of the LH where it is and playing beat 3 spanning the 7th interval on the higher E?

Oo, I like that! Beat 3 is less important and you don't really miss the lower octave there, and it's just as easy to get back down to the note on the next measure. I'll try working on this and see if that's better. Thank you!!

I see the list hasn't been updated, which is good because after a lovely evening at the piano I would like to keep 65.3 (Melancholy) as my second choice.

Also after playing 65.3 several times through with great drama, I was able to bring that drama to my first choice 57.3 (Illusion) about which I'd been despairing of ever getting it to sound like something, and now it finally does. Sound like something, I mean.

I'm not sure if Grieg is meant to be played with great slatherings of rubato and melodrama, but I like the effect. After I've experimented like this for several weeks, I may try the piece again more simply and see if I find more in it that way by way of contrast.

So today I did a preliminary recording of some sections - disastrous of course Most of all I wanted to understand the actual difference between regular audio-in recording and MIDI, which I had never used. I thought the latter wouldn't capture dynamics, pedal and expression, but I was actually quite pleased with the result! The grand piano samples in GarageBand sound very nice

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Diana & Wally - Yamaha W110BWMartha Argerich... is an incarnation of the artistic metaphor of the "eternal feminine" that draws us upward. (Sergio Sablich)

I got a recording I was somewhat happy with the other day of Volksweise (Op 12.5). I decided to listen to one of the YouTube performances I had listened to when picking out the piece. Ugh, back to the piano I trudged!!

I'll be trying out some recording today just to have some takes before I leave for a month. I'll be able to practice in New Mexico, but I'm not sure how much. I'm there to sing opera, so piano practice time will be limited. Hopefully I can maintain the From The Early Years and Halling enough so when I return in August I can get them back up to speed again for another run at recording.

I'm also meeting with a colleague of mine to help out a bit with some tension issues I'm having, hopefully we can meet before I leave. I have determined that Grieg must have had somewhat large hands with all the big chords he likes to use. Unfortunately for me and my little hands, I also like big chords.

Thanks again, Dire Tonic for the advice on what to do with that one section: I've just got to rework that up to tempo but it definitely helps! I have a similar issue with the Halling Op 71/5 that I'm afraid I'll have to not play it quite as it is written. I think in this case I'm going to have to drop some notes, but there's a lot going on , so maybe no one will be able to hear the difference

I'm also leaving for a month now, and I'll not have access to a piano while I'm away. I'm also going to have very limited time for polishing and recording when I get back. I'll travel again in September, and need to have the piece(s) recorded by September 1st. But on that date I also have to make a performance as an accompanist, playing Chilcott's Requiem. Need some luck, I guess.

Well, my teacher wants to pick a different piece for me to work on, c'est la vie! I will relinquish Melody op. 47 no. 3. Maybe three times will be the charm? Perhaps, when the next recital comes along my teacher will finally agree that recital piece is a good piece to study.